CHAP. III. WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 131 



in any age or country. His earliest building of this 

 kind was erected for the trustees of the county of 

 Mid-Lothian, across the Water of Leith, near Steven- 

 house Mill, about two miles west of Edinburgh. It is 

 the first bridge on the Edinburgh and Glasgow turnpike 

 road. 



^ 



RENNIE'S FIRST BRIDGE. 

 [By R. P. Leitch, after a Sketch by J. S. Smiles ] 



Notwithstanding the extent of his engagements and 

 the prospect of remunerative employment which was 

 opening up before him, Rennie regarded the invitation 

 of Watt as too favourable an opportunity for enlarging 

 his experience to be neglected, and, after due delibera- 

 tion, he wrote back accepting the appointment. He 

 proceeded, however, to finish the works he had in hand ; 

 after which, taking leave of his friends and home at 

 Phantassie, he set out for Birmingham on the 19th 

 of September, 1784. He remained there two months, 

 during which he enjoyed the closest personal inter- 

 course with Watt and Boulton, and was freely admitted 

 to their works at Soho, which had already become the 

 most important of their kind in the kingdom. Birming- 

 ham was then the centre of the mechanical industry of 

 England. For many centuries, working in metals had 

 been the staple trade of the place. Swords were made 



K 2 



